Blended Families

Question for parents of children with dyslexia

Hello all, I would just like some advice on a new situation we are having. I did my intro post a while back about BM letting kids stay up until 11pm,not bathing etc.

My SD (10) was recently diagnosed with mild dyslexia. She has always had such a difficult time with her reading,so this did not surprise us. She is in all regular classes but she does see a specialist at the school for her dyslexia,and DH and BM attend regular ARD meetings for her. Anyways,we were reading with her last night,and she turns her book completely upside down. We asked her why she was doing that,and she said BM told her to try it and see if it would help. (The same BM who marked SS whole back with pen to see if his spine was curved). Amazingly she does read better with it upside down (we only let her do this for a few sentences before DH had her correct it),but we feel this is a quick ridiculous fix,and it might help her at the moment,but shouldn't be her new solution. DH made the comment about how in life she can't turn a computer screen upside down etc. Thankfully there is an ARD meeting next week and DH plans to address this,but SD is saying even the teacher is on board with this (we are doubting this.) Anyone have any experience in this? Is this a legitimate "fix" or is BM just off her rocker...again? Thanks in advance!

Re: Question for parents of children with dyslexia

  • She does not have mild dyslexia, she has dyslexia. Call the ARD to see if this is a good solution, you say it works so I would not assume it is a bad solution. And the special needs board might have more experience. As for drawing on the spine, my DD had infantile scoliosis her curve improved which is common only in infantile scoliosis not other kinds and even the physical therapist we had wen she was a baby said she does that, actually she draws dots on the vertebrae, your BM does not sound as crazy as you want to believe instead she sounds like a concerned Lom trying to find solutions or answers.
    Jen - Mom to two December 12 babies Nathaniel 12/12/06 and Addison 12/12/08
  • I guess thank you for that "advice".

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  • You might not like the comments but it is my observation. Others might come here and say I am nuts, or they might agree with me but don't you want to know if others argree with you or think that you are overreacting?

    And as for the advice part, I did suggest calling the person from the school to see if letting her read upside down is a good or bad idea since it does seem to work. Without asking a professional if it is doing more harm then good I would only be guessing and would not begin to do that when we are talking about helping a kid read, but I certainly see why BM would do it if it makes it easier for her to actually read. But I would want to know if longterm it was a bad idea. I also suggested that people on the special needs board might have experience with dyslexia although I know at least one person who posts on both boards whose son has the diagnosis so she might have insight.
    Jen - Mom to two December 12 babies Nathaniel 12/12/06 and Addison 12/12/08
  • My brother is dyslexic.  Mild is believe it or not a way to define how badly one has trouble.  I also have a friend who is severely dyslexic.  Here's the difference.

    My brother would switch d's and b's, p's and q's, There were a few letters that would throw him off that a word didn't make sense but he could usually make out most of the word. He also confused meanings of words.   But he could read. He struggled with it, but he kept progressing. Slowly. Until I surpassed him.  I'm a year younger than him. That's when mom noticed an issue and it was diagnosed.  He had tutoring for a year and that pretty much addressed it to the point that he could function more normally without it being really noticable. He still struggles with it, but he's got a college education and doing very well in an  industry that does not require much writing and reading.

    My friend is severely dyslexic.  When I met her in her 30's, she could not read at all.  She wasn't dumb. She was smart. She learned to listen really well, memorize, and came up with her own methods to squeak by in school. She dropped out at 16.   She figured out a way to run a pretty successful window wallcovering installation business with the help of her husband, sister, and a friend who kept her secret.  For her, entire words were jumbled.  It wasn't just letters like my brother, it was entire words that looked like jibberish that she could not decipher whatsoever. She finally got proper training to help her learn to read, but she is slow at it.  She doesn't like books or computers, but she can read and now runs a B&B and wedding service. She's essentially a millionaire. We joke about it because she is not a multi millionare...just a millionare. The business broke a million a few years back and still doing well.

    My points are this:

    1.  There are varying degrees of dyslexia.

    2.  You can be very successful and do just fine in life if you have it.

    3.  Whatever it takes to learn - do it.  And you can flip a monitor upside down - sort of -  you can set the settings so that the screen reads upside down. I only suggest that you tell her to use it only as an occassional tool and to not think she can always do this. She needs to still learn it the proper way, but turning books upside down might kick start her ability to figure things out right side up. 

  • imageLittlejen22:
    She does not have mild dyslexia, she has dyslexia. Call the ARD to see if this is a good solution, you say it works so I would not assume it is a bad solution. And the special needs board might have more experience. As for drawing on the spine, my DD had infantile scoliosis her curve improved which is common only in infantile scoliosis not other kinds and even the physical therapist we had wen she was a baby said she does that, actually she draws dots on the vertebrae, your BM does not sound as crazy as you want to believe instead she sounds like a concerned mom trying to find solutions or answers.

    First, as j+k said, there is varying of dsylexia, just like there is varying severity of autism. So, your SD may be mild, or she may be a little more. Of course, you have more information than we do and your DH has spoken with the specialists at the school.

    Also, Littlejen did give you advice, so no need to be snarky with her. And I completely agree that BM doesn't sound crazy, she sounds like a concerned mom who is willing to find the best approaches to help her kids deal with their struggles. That sounds like a great mom to me. Just because the method seems "unconventional" to you doesn't necessarily mean it's wrong. Talk to ARD to see if the upside down books/computer screens are a good idea - maybe it is, maybe it isn't. Seriously though, give BM the benefit of the doubt. It sounds like you don't like her because she parents differently than you and because she is your DH's ex. Get over it and try to work together for the best interest of the kids. 

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